OAKLAND, Calif. -- On Wednesday, the NBA issued a flop warning. The league began issuing fines in 2013 for flops found on film. While less common in the playoffs where there's more contact and further scrutiny, it's not uncommon for it to happen. What was interesting was who it was issued to: MVP and league darling Stephen Curry, on a 3-point make ... on which there was no foul called.
Here's the play.
You can't tell if that's a flop or not. No, stop it Rockets fan. No, I don't want to hear it, Warriors fan. Unless you were seated on that side of the arena in the lower bowl and have great eyesight (and were sober!) you have no concept of what occurred on that play.
Curry was fined $5,000 for the play.
Let's pause for a moment and consider this. Curry made $10.6 million this year from his NBA salary alone. That doesn't factor in playoff share, nor his considerable-but-as-yet-unreported Under Armour sponsorship money, his State Farm sponsorship money, or any of the other bazillion ways he has access to funds -- and oh by the way, his dad was an NBA player. Curry probably had $5,000 on him at practice Wednesday, like in his sock. That adorable little girl of his, Riley, probably has a $5,000 per week allowance. You can probably find five grand in Curry's couch cushion. You know, the one in his second den. So it's not like this is hurting him in any meaningful way.
But on Wednesday, Curry and Steve Kerr raised sizable objections to the fine, not on practical grounds of course, but based on the principle.
"I don't agree with it," Curry said. I watched the play over, and it was a transition play, so obviously balance is not very good in that situation. I take a little contact, got some space off. I didn't even see, whoever it was, I didn't see him, and then when I shoot it, I see somebody coming and hit me in my arm. And when you're up in the air, it was obviously a reaction to that. That play happens countless times.
"I wasn't even looking for a foul. I just reacted to the contract that was on my arm and what have you. So I don't agree with it at all."
Curry was annoyed. It was a head-shake type situation. But for his coach, Steve Kerr? Kerr took it a little more seriously, saying (deadpan) he was "morally outraged" at the fine (after being prompted by a reporter; ask and ye shall receive).
"Well, these plays happen every day," Kerr said. "I don't think a game goes by where Jamal Crawford doesn't flop six times on his 3-point shots. It's part of the game, and I don't blame him for doing it because a lot of times the refs call it. Russell Westbrook does it. Everybody does it. So all of a sudden just randomly to fine Steph just seems kind of strange. Are we just choosing one time to do this? You can pick out flops every single game from half the guys out on the floor, so it just seems kind of random."
Hey, shots fired at Jamal Crawford despite Crawford having just been eliminated. Solid continuance of the Warriors-Clippers feud, coach. (Though he's right, Crawford tries to sell that call like he's in The Wolf of Wall Street.)
There does seem to be contact. Was it enough to warrant a call? Does it matter? Furthermore, here's what Curry said about when officials warn you about these kinds of calls (emphasis mine):
"The refs will tell you in a game if you kick your leg out trying to get contact on the closeout, or if you argue the call in the middle of a game. They'll tell you, 'No, the ball was already gone.' or you didn't get hit, or you fell without contact, and stuff like that. But I've never gotten a call from the league about it."
Something like ... this?
But maybe the contact spun him around. You can make the call.
There's also the belief that you can't flop if there's not a call made, but that's crazy. The whole point is to try and elicit a call where there isn't one. This is in every way the definition of a flop, if he in fact fell without contact. Anyway, there is a level of amusement in that the Rockets who are constantly criticized for flopping -- particularly Curry's MVP runner-up and series star counterpart James Harden -- find themselves with their opponent receiving a fine on a call they were not assessed.
Maybe we'll get lucky and neither team will try and elicit a call by exaggerating contact through the rest of this series.
... Yeah, I don't think so, either.
Source: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25191407/stephen-curry-steve-kerr-morally-object-to-flopping-fine
